Dryer apparatus for clothing knitted or woven fabric

ABSTRACT

A dryer apparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabric is constructed such that a first drying rack disposed at an upper step, and at least one step of a second drying rack disposed at a lower step thereof are provided in a frame. Each of the drying racks is formed of a drying surface having ventilation. A first drying device is disposed above the first drying rack, and a second drying device is disposed above the second rack. Each of the drying devices is formed of a drying irradiation surface for irradiating heat ray and/or heated air, and is constructed to be movable for reciprocation along the drying surface of the drying rack by means of a driving device. The drying device disposed above the second drying rack is constructed to be able to switch a direction of the drying irradiation surface from downside to upside and to be able to dry from both of an upper and a lower surface of the first drying rack.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a dryer apparatus for use in a wovenand knitted fabric, and more specifically to a dryer apparatus used fordrying the woven and knitted fabric or the like, in which medical agentis applied when pretreatment is performed before inkjet printing iscarried out, or for drying the woven and knitted fabric as amidterm-drying after the inkjet printing is carried out.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, in a case when a pattern or design is drawn in a woven andknitted fabric, such as knit, sweater made of cloth, a clothing fabric,or the like, printings are performed by means of various types ofprinting machines, such as a flat screen, rotary screen, roller or thelike.

Products made by such kinds of printings are commercialized afterpassing through processes such as a drying, a color appearance, asoaping, finishing, after the printing.

However, in such kinds of printings, a plate has to be separately madefor each of colors to be printed by means of work such as tracing of anoriginal picture for use in printing, reproduction or the like,requiring much trouble, costs, and a term.

Further, at a time for adjusting of color paste for each of the colorsand coloration change, washing work for each of the plates is alsonecessary and therefor it has been also a cause of lowering of theproductivity.

Accordingly, as the applicant of the present invention has proposedearlier, there have been inkjet printers for mainly printing a designand a pattern of shape on knit or clothes made of the woven and knittedfabric, or small product as printing object for inkjet printing, and theprinted materials are naturally dried after a medical agent is appliedfor the pretreatment, or after the pattern of shape is printed. However,in particular, when both of surfaces are printed, each of the surfacesis naturally dried one by one, and therefore it has required appreciablylong time (Refer to Patent Document 1).

A dryer apparatus for use in such printed materials or small lotproduction as printing objects does not exist heretofore.

For example, in a dryer apparatus described in Japanese UnexaminedPatent Application Publication No. 9-133464, applied by TorayIndustries, Inc., the dryer apparatus includes a conveyer, and warm windis blown to the long-sheet-shaped woven and knitted fabric. Therefore,the size of the dryer apparatus is too large and the dryer apparatus isnot suitable for sample printings or small lot production (Refer toPatent Document 2).

Patent Document 1: International Patent Publication No. WO03/031190

Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application PublicationNo. 9-133464

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

The present invention is proposed in light of the above-describedproblems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a dryerapparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabric regardless of whetherthe surface to be printed is one side surface or both side surfaces, andthe dryer apparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabric that isapplicable for clothing made of knit, the woven and knitted fabric, oreven a small product of small lot production, and that is capable ofperforming preferable dryings. Further, the object of the presentinvention is to provide a dryer apparatus that can dry the woven andknitted fabric, specifically, even a thickly formed knitted fabric withgood efficiency in a short period of time.

Means for Solving the Problems

To achieve the above-described problems, a dryer apparatus for use in awoven and knitted fabric with respect to the present invention is mostlargely characterized in that the dryer apparatus for use in woven andknitted fabric includes a frame including, a first drying rack disposedat an upper step; at least one step of a second drying rack disposed ata step lower that the first rack; in which each of the drying rack isformed of a drying surface having permeability, and the frame furtherincludes a first drying device disposed above the first drying rack; asecond drying device disposed above the second rack; in which each ofthe drying devices is formed of a drying irradiation surface forirradiating heat ray and/or heated air, and in which the drying devicesare constructed to be movable for reciprocation along the drying surfaceof the drying rack by means of a driving device, and in which the dryingdevice disposed above the second drying rack is constructed to be ableto switch a direction of the drying irradiation surface from downside toupside and to be able to dry from both of an upper and a lower surfacesof the first drying rack.

Further, the dryer apparatus for use in the woven and knitted fabric ischaracterized in that the first and the second drying devices disposedin an up-and-down direction are controlled for sliding by means of thesame driving device, or the woven and knitted fabric to be performed fordrying treatment is moisturized by means of liquid for treatmentperformed before printing, or in printing. Furthermore, the dryerapparatus for use in the woven and knitted fabric is characterized inthat the drying device includes a device for irradiating a heat ray suchas an infrared ray, or the like, and the second drying device furtherincludes a drip-proof cover at a drying irradiation surface portionthereof. Still further, dryer apparatus for use in the woven and knittedfabric is characterized in that the drying device serves as a device forirradiating the heat ray and/or hot wind from the drying irradiationsurface, and includes a first drying stage to perform drying by the heatray, and a second drying stage to perform drying by the heat ray and thehot wind, in which the reciprocating movement of the drying device atthe first drying stage is performed at low speed, and the reciprocatingmovement of the drying device at the second drying stage is performed atspeed faster than the speed of the reciprocating movement at the firstdrying stage.

Advantages

According to a dryer apparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabric ofthe present invention, a drying surface formed of a drying surfacehaving ventilation is provided at least two steps of a first drying rackand a second drying rack, and when only one face of the woven andknitted fabric is printed, only the printed surface or a treated surfaceis dried by means of drying surface of each of the drying racks andthereby a large number of the woven and knitted fabrics can be dried,and when both side surfaces of the woven and knitted fabric are printed,a drying irradiation surface at a lower side is upwardly turned around.Therefore, there is an advantage such that the woven and knitted fabriccan be efficiently dried from above and below the first drying rackwithout patches.

In addition, since the woven and knitted fabric can be dried from aboveand below the first drying rack, a both-surface drying can be performednot only for the woven and knitted fabric of which both surfaces areprinted, but also for a thickly formed woven and knitted fabric, asweater having a front side knitted fabric and a backside knittedfabric, or the like.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinbelow, a dryer apparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabricwith respect to the present invention is explained on the basis of thedrawings.

FIG. 1 is an elevation schematically showing a dryer apparatus for usein the woven and a knitted fabric, and numeral 1 in the figure entirelydenotes the apparatus.

The dryer apparatus 1 for the woven and knitted fabric is configuredsuch that a first drying rack 3 a is disposed at an upper part of theframe 2 and a second drying rack 3 b is disposed at a lower part of theframe 2, respectively, by means of a supporting member 6 in anup-and-down direction a first drying device 4 a is located above thefirst drying rack 3 a disposed at the upper part of the frame 2 and asecond drying device 4 b is located above the second drying rack 3 bdisposed at the lower part of the frame 2. In addition, the first andsecond drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, are configured to be driven forreciprocating movement above the first and second drying racks, 3 a and3 b, by means of a driving device 5, described later and shown in FIG.5.

In the aforementioned first and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, adrying surface 8 where a net made of metal is tacked across a frame body7 which is supported by means of a supporting member 6 is formed.Further, each of the first and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, isconfigured to be independently pulled out and taken out from the frame 2by means of sliding at a portion of the supporting member, as shown inFIG. 2.

The aforementioned first and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, areconfigured such that a moving bracket 9 that moves from one end of thefirst and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, to the other end thereof bymeans of the driving device 5 is disposed at both sides of thesupporting member 6 of the first and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b.At each of the moving bracket 9, a side board 10 of the first dryingdevice 4 a and a side board 11 of the second drying device 4 b areprovided, and across each of the side boards, 10 and 10, 11 and 11,beams, 12 and 13, having a closed section, and covers, 14 and 15, havingapproximately C-shaped section are constructed and a plurality of fans16, 16, and 16, for use in air sending are attached at a side faceportion of the covers, 14 and 15, at even intervals (Refer to FIG. 1).

In each of the covers, 14 and 15, a reflecting plate 18 having atrapezoid-shaped section, one side of which opens to serve as a dryingirradiation surface 17 is attached to the beams, 12 and 13, via abracket 19. A heater 20 is attached to an inside of the reflecting plate18 (Refer to FIG. 2).

Incidentally, the heater 20 to be mounted on the first and second dryingdevices, 4 a and 4 b, are configured such that the drying deviceirradiates a heat ray, such as an infrared ray, or the like having awave form of from 780 nm to 1 mm. As shown in FIGS. 3 through 5, thefirst and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, are formed by attaching aplurality of far-infrared ray heater having a predetermined dimension ina line like manner.

Further, a drip-proof cover 21 formed of heat resistance glass isattached to an opening portion of the reflecting plate 18 of the seconddrying device 4 b, and the second drying device 4 b is configured to berotatable between the side board 11 and the moving bracket 9 by means ofa rotation mechanism 22 at 180 degrees.

The rotation mechanism 22 of the aforementioned second drying device 4 bis configured such that a rotation pivot hole 23 is formed in the sideboard 11, as shown in FIG. 2. Further, screw holes, 24 and 24, forfixing are formed at two places, i.e., an upper portion and a lowerportion on a concentric circle around the rotation pivot hole 23. Theside board 11 is rotatably supported because a pivot shaft 25 beingprotruded from the moving bracket 9 is fitted into the rotation pivothole 23. Further, the position of the drying device 4 b of the lowerside is configured to be fixed by means of fitting a butterfly bolt 26inserted from the moving bracket 9 into one of the screw holes 24 forfixing.

Incidentally, a numeral 27 in the figure denotes an assisting member forpositioning having a knob portion 27 a. A tip end portion of theassisting member 27 is kept under tension to be protruding toward theside board 11 side by means of a spring (not shown) built in the tip endside portion (below the neck portion) from the knob portion 27 a in theassisting member 27.

Thus, when the second drying device 4 b is turned around and the dryingirradiation surfaces, 17 and 17, are thereby positioned in a manner soas to sandwich the first drying rack 3 a, the drying irradiation surface17 at a lower side is configured to be located in a manner so as to becloser to the drying rack than the drying irradiation surface 17 at anupper side is, namely located to a asymmetry position.

Further, the driving device 5 that drives for sliding the aforementionedfirst and second drying device 4 a, and 4 b, is composed of an electricmotor 30 fixed to the frame 2, a drive belt 31 provided across an entirelength of the first and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, a transmissionapparatus 33 for transmitting rotation of the electric motor 30 to apulley 32 at an end of the drive belt 31 at decreased speed, and a clamp35 of a carrier 34 provided at a middle portion of the moving bracket 9is connected to the drive belt 31, as shown in a schematic view in FIG.6.

The carrier 34 spans across supporting beams 36 at a side of the firstdrying rack 3 a from the front side to the rear side of the frame 2, andis movably supported by a guide rail 37 attached to an upper surface ofthe supporting beam 36 via a slider 38, as shown in FIG. 2.

The electric motor 30 is controlled by means of an automatic controlapparatus (not shown) on the basis of signals from various kinds ofsensors (though not shown, for example, a temperature sensor, an endposition sensor for the clothing fabric, or the like). Accordingly, anoutput power of the fan 16 for use in air sending, or that of the heater20 of the first and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, and a dimensionor speed of a reciprocating movement of the first and second dryingdevices, 4 a and 4 b, are controlled.

Incidentally, the right side in FIG. 6 corresponds to a front side ofthe drying apparatus 1, and the left of FIG. 6 is an illustrationshowing a state, in which a second drying device 4 b is upwardly turnedaround and in which the first drying rack 3 a is dried from above andbelow, whereas the right of FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration showingthe second drying device 4 b in the middle of being upwardly turnedaround.

A case in which the thus constructed drying apparatus 1 for the wovenand knitted fabric is used will be explained below.

First, in order to improve fixing capability for the ink sprayed bymeans of an inkjet printer (not shown), liquid for pretreatment isapplied to the clothing fabric (woven and knitted fabric) portion of asweater or the like to be inkjet printed and the clothing fabric portionis brought to a state to be moisturized.

In a case when the portion to be inkjet printed is, for example, only afront side portion of the sweater or the like, the clothing fabric ismounted on each of the first and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, in astate that the clothing fabric is developed such that the front sideportion to which the pretreatment is applied faces upward, namely, faceseach of the drying irradiation surfaces 17 of the first and seconddrying devices, 4 a and 4 b.

Next, when the drying apparatus 1 is started, the clothing fabric istreated by the dimension or speed of the reciprocating movement of thefirst and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, the output power of theheater 20 and the air volume of the fans, 16, 16, and 16, for use in theair sending, which is set by means of the automatic control apparatus onthe basis of signals from various kinds of sensors, and is brought topredetermined humidity.

At this moment, although an automatic control for the dimension, thespeed, or the number of the reciprocating movement of the first andsecond drying device, 4 a and 4 b, or an output control of the outputpower of the heater 20, the air volume of the fans, 16, 16, and 16, foruse in sending air, or the like is automatically controlled by means ofa program set in advance to the automatic control apparatus by thetemperature sensor, a moisture percentage sensor, a thickness sensor forthe clothing fabric, or the like, the program can be modified by handand performed.

In other words, when material of the clothing fabric mounted on each ofthe first and second drying racks 3 a and 3 b is different, or the like,the output power of the aforementioned heater 20, and the air volume orthe like of the fans, 16, 16, and 16, for sending air of the first andsecond drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, can be adjusted to be different toeach other and excess or deficiency of drying can be prevented.

Incidentally, since a percentage of moisture content is high at theinitial stage of the drying, the drying of the clothing fabric isperformed by using only the heater 20 and by causing the reciprocatingmovement of the first and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, to be slowin order to prevent medical agent from being affected by wind from thefan 16 for sending air. Along with advancement of drying, moving speedof the first and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, is graduallyincreased and the drying is accelerated.

By means of performing such a process, the time required for drying canbe reduced. Further, when the end position sensor for the clothingfabric detects an end portion of the clothing fabric mounted on thefirst and second drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, in a moving direction, themovement of the first and second drying devices, 4 a and 4 b, isreversed so as to prevent needless output of the heater 20 and the fan16 for sending air, and efficiency of the dimension of the reciprocatingmovement.

Furthermore, when the end position sensor for the clothing fabricdetects the end portion in a width direction perpendicular to the movingdirection of the clothing fabric which is mounted on the first andsecond drying racks, 3 a and 3 b, the output power of the heater 20 at apart positioned outside of the end of the clothing fabric is turned off,resulting in reducing power consumption.

In addition, in a case when the portion to be inkjet printed is a frontside portion and a backside portion (including an entire periphery) ofthe sweater, or the like, for example, the clothing fabric is mounted onthe first drying rack 3 a in a developed state, and the second dryingdevice 4 b is turned around.

When the knob portion 27 a of the assisting member 27 for positioning ispulled after the butterfly bolt 26 is loosened, and a tip end portion ofthe knob portion 27 a is brought to a state to be pulled out from ascrew hole 21 for fixing of the side board 11, the second drying device4 b is rotated by small force around the pivot shaft 25. Further, thesecond drying device 4 b is turned around to reach a state for thedrying irradiation surface 17 to be proximally in contact with a lowerface of the first drying rack 3 a, as shown in the figure at the left inFIG. 6, and in FIGS. 1 and 2, after passing through a state, shown inthe figure at the right in FIG. 6.

At a time when the second drying device 4 b is turned around, when theknob portion 27 a of the assisting member 27 is left from hand, since atip end thereof is always pressed and kept under tension toward a sideboard 11 side, the tip end automatically fit into the screw hole 24 forfixing when the same reaches a position to face the tip end, and thebutterfly bolt 26 is brought to a state to be aligned with the screwhole 24 for fixing.

Accordingly, when only the butterfly bolt is operated for rotation in adirection to be screwed, the butterfly bolt can be screwed into thescrew hole 24 for fixing and the drying device 4 b can be firmly fixedin a state that the drying irradiating surface 17 is proximally incontact with a lower face of the first drying rack 3 a at the upperside.

Thus, when the drying irradiation surface 17 is fixed in a state thatthe same is proximally in contact with the lower face of the drying rack3 a at the upper side, the dimension and the speed of the reciprocatingdrive for the first and second drying device, 4 a and 4 b, the outputpower of the heater 20, the air volume of the fans, 16, 16, and 16, forsending air, or the like is automatically controlled by means of theprogram preset to the automatic control apparatus by the temperaturesensor, a moisture percentage sensor, a thickness sensor for theclothing fabric, or the like, and the drying is performed.

Incidentally, the reason why the drying irradiation surface 17 isconfigured to be in closer contact with the drying rack 3 a than thedrying irradiation surface 17 at the upper side when the drying device 4a of the lower side is upwardly turned around is to compensate with theheat ray irradiated by the drying irradiation surface 17 of the dryingdevice 4 b at the lower side, or the air volume which are interrupted bythe drying surface 8 made of metal and the drip-proof cover 21.

Further, the drip-proof cover 21 spread over the drying irradiationsurface 17 of the drying device 4 a at the lower side is to prevent theheater 20 from causing to short circuit by a droplet dripping down fromthe clothing fabric mounted on the drying rack 3 a, or to prevent theheater 20 from adhering of lint or moisture.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, a case that thepretreatment liquid applied to the clothing fabric before printing isexplained as an example. However, it is natural to say that, forexample, in a case of cotton or the like, the dryer apparatus for use inthe woven and knitted fabric can be also used for a midterm-drying.

In addition, in the embodiment described-above, the drying rack beingconstructed to be two steps of the lower side and upper side isillustrated, however, the present invention can be carried out byproviding three or more drying racks and by providing the drying devicecorresponding to the drying rack, without being limited to such aconstruction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an elevation schematically showing a dryer apparatus for usein the woven and knitted fabric;

FIG. 2 is an elevation showing part of a drying device and a dryingrack;

FIG. 3 is a looking-up view showing a heater attaching portion;

FIG. 4 is a cross-section of A-A line of the heater attaching portion;

FIG. 5 is a side view showing the heater attaching portion; and

FIG. 6 is a side view schematically showing a drying device.

REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1: dryer apparatus for use in woven and knitted fabric-   2: frame-   3 a, 3 b: drying rack-   4 b, 4 b: drying device-   8: drying surface-   17: drying irradiation surface-   20: heater-   21: drip-proof cover

1. A dryer apparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabric comprising: aframe comprising; a first drying rack disposed at an upper step; atleast one step of a second drying rack disposed at a step lower than thefirst drying rack; wherein each of the first drying rack and the atleast one step of the second drying rack is formed of a drying surfacehaving ventilation, and the frame further comprising; a first dryingdevice disposed above the first drying rack; a second drying devicedisposed above the at least one step of second rack; wherein each of thefirst drying device and the second drying device is formed of a dryingirradiation surface for irradiating a heat ray and/or heated air, andwherein the first drying device and the second drying device areconstructed to be movable for reciprocation along the drying surface ofthe first drying rack and the at least one step of the second dryingrack by means of a driving device, and wherein a drying device disposedabove the second drying rack is constructed to be able to switch adirection of the drying irradiation surface from downside to upside andto be able to dry from both of an upper and a lower surface of the firstdrying rack.
 2. The dryer apparatus for use in the woven and knittedfabric according to claim 1, wherein the first drying device and thesecond drying device disposed in an up-and-down direction are controlledfor sliding by means of the same driving device.
 3. The dryer apparatusfor use in a woven and knitted fabric according to claim 1, wherein thewoven and knitted fabric to be performed for drying treatment ismoisturized by means of liquid for treatment being performed beforeprinting, or in printing.
 4. The dryer apparatus for use in a woven andknitted fabric according to claim 1, wherein the drying device comprisesa device for irradiating the heat ray such as an infrared ray, or thelike, and the second drying device further comprises a drip-proof coverat a drying irradiation surface portion thereof.
 5. The dryer apparatusfor use in a woven and knitted fabric according to claim 1, wherein thedrying device serves as a device for irradiating the heat ray and/or hotwind from the drying irradiation surface, and comprises a first dryingstage to perform drying by the heat ray, and a second drying stage toperform drying by the heat ray and the hot wind, and wherein thereciprocating movement of the drying device at the first drying stage isperformed at low speed, and the reciprocating movement of the dryingdevice at the second drying stage is performed at speed faster than thespeed of the reciprocating movement at the first drying stage.
 6. Thedryer apparatus for use in a woven and knitted fabric according to claim2, wherein the drying device serves as a device for irradiating the heatray and/or hot wind from the drying irradiation surface, and comprises afirst drying stage to perform drying by the heat ray, and a seconddrying stage to perform drying by the heat ray and the hot wind, andwherein the reciprocating movement of the drying device at the firstdrying stage is performed at low speed, and the reciprocating movementof the drying device at the second drying stage is performed at speedfaster than the speed of the reciprocating movement at the first dryingstage.